Cult-Followed Taiwanese Bao Specialists Close Restaurants and Launch Delivery Brand

London’s cult-followed Taiwanese gua bao specialists Bao has announced the closure of its three restaurants (and one street food stall) yesterday (17 March), adding to the ever-growing list of restaurants taking action in the face of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Owners Erchen Chang, Shing Tat Chung, and Wai Ting Chung, who last week revealed details of the forthcoming restaurant in King’s Cross, said the the decision was hard but that they were “adapting in order to do what is right for everyone” and that the temporary was “for the safety and health of our community.”

As the decision, without formal government advice, had been left to operators like themselves, they had been planning for the worst-case scenario. “Last weekend, the team put their minds together and dreamed up a delivery brand called ‘Rice Error by BAO’,” they said. “Some may say — a brand born in reaction to the current crisis.”

Bao, which serves Taiwanese gua bao, snacks, and ultra modern East Asian small plates has restaurants on Lexington Street in Soho, on Windmill Street in Fitzrovia, and in Borough Market. The group has yet to provide an update on its fine dining restaurant and tea house, XU in Chinatown.

The owners added that they hoped to continue to serve its hungry community during the months ahead and by doing so they hoped to minimise the effect that this challenge is having on all their customers and what they refer to as the BAO family.

More details on Rice Error delivery will come in due course and the owners urged people to follow the new Rice Error Instagram account.